God's Time
By Woodrow Kroll
Part 2 – God's Time - Season and time,
Polar Opposites
------------
Click here for Part
1 - God's Time - Pearl of Wisdom
Click here for Part
3 - God's Time - All things beautiful
Click here for Part
4 - God's
Time - Going according to plan
------------
Part 2 - Season and time
The first phrase
in Ecclesiastes 3:1 gives us the
right perspective on time: "To
everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven."
The two words here--season and time--imply
duration and a point in time. Because everything has a season, nothing (at
least on earth) lasts forever.
God has appointed a "season"
for everything. Seasons have beginnings and endings. They last, but not too
long.
In the life cycle there
is a season for gestation, a season for childhood and youth, a season for
middle age and a season for old age, followed by death. It's all quite natural;
it's all ordained by God.
The word translated "time"
means "a point in time." Within any give season, there is a
point in time in which God has ordained everything to happen.
Within the season of
our older youth, my wife and I decided to get married. We were in the season of
our 20s, but the time was June 26.
So season means
a period of time and time means a point in time.
Solomon's thesis is
this: Every activity of mankind has a proper time and a predetermined duration.
Our lives will be a
lot less stressful if we recognize that the omniscient hand of God has
appointed a time when things are to be done, and He has a predetermined
duration for those things to last.
Examples of polar opposites
Solomon now
demonstrates how this process of time fitting into a season takes place. For
example, verse 2 says, "A time to be
born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is
planted."
Nature has a season of
growth, but within that season there is a time to plant and a time to harvest.
Sowing first, then,
after a duration, harvesting. How often we allow the tyranny of time to rob us
of the patience of seasons.
There's also the
process of constructing and destroying, or tearing down. A building is built in
a few months, and then, 50 years or so later, that building is torn down.
The destruction of the
building is usually faster than its construction, but the duration (season) is
always longer than either the time of building or the time of tearing down.
Verse 5 says, "A time to cast away stones, and a time
to gather stones."
Again, using the image
of building, Solomon says, "There's
a time to cast away the stones from your fields so that you can farm the field.
And then there's a time to pick up those stones on the edge of the field and
build a house with them."
Building and
rebuilding are what the seasons of our lives are all about.
Verse 6 continues this
thought: "A time to gain, and a time
to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away."
There is a time to go
shopping (the time your wife likes best) and a time to throw old, useless
things away (the time she hates the most).
If you're a shopper by
nature--you have that extra shopping gene that impels you to drop everything
and go shopping--you know how easy it is to enjoy the time for acquiring new
things.
But do you have the
same disposition when it comes time to part with those things? After the season
of usefulness, the time to gain is past; the time to throw away has come.
I have to admit, the
pain of this time has been greatly reduced with the invention of the garage
sale. There is duration--a season of time--for everything, and then there is a
point in time for change.
Solomon's example of
polar opposites in verse 7 may seem strange to you: "A time to tear, and a time to sew."
In the Middle East,
tearing was a sign of mourning. Sewing your clothes after the mourning period
was over was the signal to return to a life of joy.
Remember when Job's
three friends came to comfort him? The first thing Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar
did was weep. Then "each one tore
his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven" (Job 2:12).
There is a time to
show that you're commiserating with someone--a time to tear your gown. But then
there's also a time to move beyond your sorrow and to sew the gown again.
Everyone goes through
good times and bad times; together they make up the season of your life. It's
not the times of our lives that shape us, but the seasons.
Make sure you don't
live only for the good times; when the bad times come, and they will, you won't
have the strength to handle them.
And make sure you don't
let the bad times defeat you. If you do, you'll miss out on all the good times
God still has in store for you. It takes both to make a life.
Make certain your
attitude toward life is such that, even if you can't enjoy all the times, you
do enjoy the season. Praise God that neither good times nor bad times last;
only eternity does.
Even the polar
opposites in verse 8 can be understood if we place time into the arena of
duration: "A time to love, and a
time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."
Of course, Solomon is
not advocating either hate or war. But the reality is, there are things for us
to hate (the things God hates), and there may be a time for us to fight (as
God's people, Israel, did).
His point is that we
are to balance all the times of our lives so that the season pleases God.
That's a pearl of wisdom.
If things aren't going
your way, give it time. If things are going your way, prepare for the time when
they won't.
Set your sights on the
duration season, not on the peaks and valleys of time. Build your life on God's
Word and you will be a seasoned Christian.
Build your life on the
things that happen in time, and you will be a soured Christian.
------------
Click here for Part 1 - God's Time - Pearl of Wisdom
Click here for Part 3 - God's Time - All things beautiful
Click here for Part 4 - God's Time - Going according to plan
------------
No comments:
Post a Comment